To take advantage of opportunities/solve problems, the need for a greater than local/cross-boundary approach can be seen. Regional cooperation is the nominal tool, yet the goal is to be greater; have greater capacity, resources, market,…. Greater is regional; working across boundaries achieves it. Cooperation is possible when people recognize such regional community. This is regional intelligence: Greater Communities solving problems, of which security is foremost; altogether “community motive.”

This newsletter provides a scan of regional community, cooperation and collaboration activity as reported in news media and blogs. Article text is saved to I.see.regions.work on delicious.com within the 1000 count limit. Geocode system and topic tags are assigned and included. These are a work in progress. "re:" is used a pre-tag meaning: region/regions/regional. They link to the collection of related items.

Multi-jurisdictional intentional regional communities are, in all cases, “Greater Communities” where “community motive” is at work at a more than local scale.

Job growth in educational and health services and in government enabled the Baltimore region to weather the recession better than most competing regions, according to data in the 2011 State of the Region Report released today by the Greater Baltimore Committee.

The Baltimore region also retained its first-place ranking for academic research funding among 20 U.S. regions studied for the report, compiled by the GBC and the Baltimore Metropolitan Council. The report ranks Greater Baltimore and 19 key competing regions on 112 benchmark indicators measuring business vitality, economic health and quality of life. Data analysis for the report was conducted by Towson University's Regional Economic Studies Institute (RESI).

This is the sixth in a series of "State of the Region" reports that have been issued since 1997.
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The Baltimore region achieved top-five rankings in 30 categories. It ranked in the bottom five in 13 categories.
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The recent Eurostat statistics cover the following main issues: most prospective regions in the EU, regions with the highest proportion of population with completed tertiary education, cities in which poverty is considered a problem by the citizens, and the cities with the worst air quality. …

The EU-27 has 271 regions at NUTS level 2:

- Share of land used for residential, economic and infrastructure-related purposes varies from 2% to 90% in the EU regions

In order to get a picture of the diversity of the EU regions in terms of land use and land cover, Eurostat launched the Land Use/Cover Area frame Survey (LUCAS) in 2009.
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One of the indicators measured in this survey is the share of land used for residential, economic and infrastructure-related purposes (built up areas), which averages 9% across the EU.
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Cleveland’s beloved “working-class intellectual” Harvey Pekar said these words in the late 1990s, but they are equally relevant today. Not much has changed with respect to the state of our central city and suburban attitudes about regional cooperation. Imagine if we had heeded these words more than a decade ago, how much different things might be for this region now. This is especially important as the region — finally — embarks on a regional planning effort thanks to the $5 million grant from Obama’s Sustainable Communities Program. Northeast Ohio needs to be bold and unselfish. It is fighting for its life. – AS

Pekar:
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“Citizens living in our prosperous suburbs won’t recognize that if the declining central cities they surround go down the tubes, so do they.”

“Naysayers are worried about paying more taxes, they also don’t want to have anything to do with national, regional or local public planning, seeing it as an encroachment of big government on their lives.”
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Officials from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority are out in the city all the time talking about the costs of the capital region’s transit system – the money it takes to run the thing, ….

But no one talks much about the benefits, the real benefits, not just for faster commuting times, but for the region on the whole.

WMATA officials have been thinking about this around the agency’s 35th anniversary, and as planners prepare to make the case for what should come in the next three decades. Here's the question: what does transit investment really buy the region? …

"We think one of the best and possibly only ways to measure how valuable something is," says Justin Antos, "is by taking it away and looking back at what you’ve lost."
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WMATA took the same transportation demand model that it uses to project ridership on a new line and instead ran a couple of scenarios with the region’s transit literally turned off. All of it: the regional rail, the buses and the metro system.

A panel that is drawing up plans for regional mass transit heard vivid testimony Friday from some metro Atlanta residents who fear it could damage their way of life, and from others who feared it may not be transformative enough.

The panel of lawmakers and local elected officials convened by Gov. Nathan Deal intends to propose a new state law next month that could start connecting metro Atlanta's patchwork of mass transit agencies. The panel has not yet proposed its bill, but rumors … have stirred emotions.

The new mass transit reorganization could help pave the way for next year's transportation referendum. Metro Atlanta voters in 10 counties will consider a $6.14 billion project list along with a 1 percent sales tax to fund it, and more than half of the list is mass transit. Some local elected officials have said they don't think it will pass unless voters know the transit projects will fall under a consolidated organization rather than just local governments.

The outcome was mixed last week for the Finger Lakes region … strategic plan … did receive $68.9 million in state funding for 93 projects.

These funds represent a significant down payment by New York state on the region's economic future and will enable …. projects identified by the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council to move forward.
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The governor is committed to this innovative bottom-up approach, and both he and the leadership in the state Legislature have pledged additional funding for this initiative next year.

The grass-roots response … was overwhelming. More than 1,200 individuals participated in the development of the plan. Their input was essential and made our plan infinitely stronger.

Perhaps more than anything else, this strategic planning process has highlighted to us the value of collaboration and partnership.

By working together as a region, we have strengthened our bonds and were able to articulate a shared regional vision for the future, galvanize new

… Council of national social enterprise support organisation, Social Enterprise UK (SEUK). … major discussions was around the future of social enterprise support in the UK. … it’s reasonable to report that – broadly speaking – a grand plan for preserving regional support did not emerge from our debate.

The big problem is money. Prior to the election of the current coalition government, social enterprise support in the nine English regions had been funded primarily through Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) with additional grants coming from voluntary sector infrastructure programmes such as Capacity Builders.

Unfortunately the RDAs were political constructs and the political party that constructed them is now in opposition. London is a real place, where the elected leader, Mayor Boris Johnson, has taken the choice not to provide resources for social enterprise support. The other regions – with the possible exception of Yorkshire and the Humber – aren’t places, they’re lines on a map

For most of the span since the end of World War II, more people have been leaving the Pittsburgh region than flocking to it.

For the second year in a row, that trend has been halted. The relative health of the local economy appears to be a motivator for retaining existing Pittsburghers and creating new ones.

The seven-county metropolitan region attracted 1,430 more people than the number who left it between 2009 and 2010, based on new Internal Revenue Service migration data, according to a report by Christopher Briem, a regional economist for the University of Pittsburgh's University Center for Social and Urban Research.
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Much of the recent net gain is from population centers in the Midwest, such as Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit and Columbus, Ohio, as well as other parts of Western Pennsylvania. While Pittsburgh still has a net loss of older adults to retirement centers … in-migrants are typically younger people seeking employment.

The state's $49.4 million injection into the Southern Tier's economy is the smallest of any region in the state, and whether it will live up to its intended purpose -- adding jobs and fostering long-term growth -- is up for debate.
"There's a real limit on how much a state government can do in the short run to boost the economy," said Robert Ward, deputy director of the Rockefeller Institute at the University at Albany.

The resources the state has to spend on economic development are relatively small compared to the size of the economy, and the real value of the competition is to encourage regional economic planning, he said.

"It does seem likely that the state's leadership in generating very serious thinking at the regional level will be helpful," Ward said. "There's no doubt we've had a lot of parochialism over the years, and that has hurt us."

For as long as I can remember, civic leaders in Southern California have been touting "regionalism." They insist that an area as interconnected as Los Angeles and its satellites really ought to coordinate how it grows and what it invests in. This sort of rhetoric usually goes no further than … panel discussions at a conferences about leadership or land use or some such. It's hard to "be regional" when everything from county boundaries to uncooperative public officials keep everything in its respective silos.

This month, however, Southern California finally got something to be regional about.

At its regional council meeting Dec. 1, the leadership of the Southern California Association of Governments unveiled its draft Sustainable Communities Strategy and Regional Transportation Plan. … respond to the demands of Senate Bill 375, the 2008 law that requires urban regions in California to coordinate their land use and transportation planning in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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If you are interested in exploring: 1) the big picture of the human journey, 2) lives of sustainable prosperity and new community, 3) the “new paradigm” emerging from the combined wisdom of science and spirituality, and 4) how the media revolution can support a new level of citizen engagement in choosing our pathway into the future, this site offers a wide range of free videos (from mini-documentaries to half-hour presentations), books (most with an overview, excerpt, table of contents), articles and reports, and more. These materials cover four core themes …
Sustainable Ways of Living—Exploring “sustainable prosperity” and simpler, more balanced ways of living.
Our World in Transition—Understanding the big picture of humanity’s evolutionary journey.

The Living Universe—The integrative paradigm emerging from the combined wisdom of science and spirituality.
Mature Media Democracy—Trans-partisan engagement for media accountability and citizen empowerment.

COFER is an IMF database that keeps end-of-period quarterly data on the currency composition of official foreign exchange reserves. The currencies identified in COFER are:
U.S. dollar,
Euro,
Pound sterling,
Japanese yen,
Swiss francs, and
Other currencies.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has announced that $785 million has been awarded through the Regional Economic Development Council initiative.

This continues the governor's efforts to redesign the way state government works in order to drive economic growth and create jobs.

Announced in July, regional councils represent a fundamental shift in the state's approach to economic development from a top-down development model to a community-based, performance driven approach. This empowers individual areas to develop comprehensive strategic plans that invest in regional solutions to create jobs and economic growth.

The Central New York Regional Council was named the “best plan” awardee and pulled down $103.7 million in funds. The plan includes a total of more than 74 projects.
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Local governments in Oregon's Willamette Valley have made various attempts at regional collaboration in the past few decades. Now, a group is trying to create a more formal relationship. City and county officials … discuss a possible compact to band together on key issues.

The Willamette Valley stretches from Portland south to Eugene. It includes the state capitol and is known for its diverse agriculture. Some two-thirds of Oregon's population lives in the valley.

Advocates of this proposed compact say the agreement would facilitate better regional cooperation on a range of issues including the environment, transportation and economic development.

Roger Hamilton is with The Resource Innovation Group. The consulting non-profit is affiliated with Willamette University and is facilitating the meeting.

… Hamilton says. "The focus is on what we call 'regional resilience,' which is simply planning for the future in a coordinated way."
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Willamette Valley Regional Resilience Summit

Indiana University Kokomo's pioneering approach to transforming the region through knowledge, innovation, and entrepreneurship was spotlighted …

… conference titled, "Accelerating Regional Solutions: Finding Unique Pathways to American Prosperity," hosted by Transformative Regional Engagements (TRE) Networks. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss and address the nation's move to regionalism in growth and development.

"Universities are being transformed as well. We are taking on a new role - building coalitions, transforming our regions, and embarking on a new way of thinking about leadership," Harris said.
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"The future economic well-being in the state of Indiana lies largely in the success of regional campuses making a difference within the communities they serve," Harris said. "IU Kokomo follows the direction of IU President Michael McRobbie to emerge as a leader in transforming north central Indiana."

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that $785 million has been awarded through the Regional Economic Development Council initiative, …

…, Regional Councils represent a fundamental shift in the state's approach to economic development from a top-down development model to a community-based, performance driven approach which empowers individual areas to develop comprehensive strategic plans that invest in regional solutions to create jobs and economic growth. As part of the Regional Council process, a Strategic Plan Review Committee was chosen to analyze and rank the strategic plans for each region competing for $200 million in specially targeted economic development funding.

"Regional collaborations and planning is a roadmap to get New Yorkers back to work …The plans submitted by all ten regions were truly extraordinary. For the first time, we are putting the power of the State Government behind the innovation of our people, giving them the tools to rebuild our economy."

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In December 2010, the Michigan Legislature approved PA 275, the Next Michigan Development Act, which created the opportunity for Michigan to establish as many as five logistics hubs.

The Aerotropolis in Wayne County was the impetus and the first to be approved. The concept is to align existing multi-modal assets, such as airports and rail lines, with tax and other incentives, and market them through regional collaborations of government agencies.

Collectively, this effort could make these regions competitive havens for businesses that need access to their multi-modal assets.

… I-69 International Trade Corridor, the name given to a new collaborative partnership between four counties and at least 24 communities along I-69, all of them hoping to profit by working together. The counties include St. Clair, Shiawassee, Genesee and Lapeer with support from Oakland County and organizations in the province of Ontario that hope for some spill-over benefit.
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Open Innovation is an emerging concept that promotes collaboration between companies to research and develop ideas. This notion goes against years of companies fighting to keep ideas and intellectual property within their own walls — and the belief that they, alone, hold the best and brightest minds.

“Companies have to change that mindset and say, ‘Yes, there are people outside our company that may have ideas that are valuable to us, that we may want to collaborate with.’ I think another challenge is overcoming intellectual property protections,” said Grant Wirth, President of Pittsburgh-based Kopp Glass.

His company relies on open innovation to explore all possibilities of growth. Wirth added that relying solely on internal ideas limits that growth.

The Pittsburgh Regional Alliance held a topic briefing on open innovation for county economic development leaders and representatives from small and medium-sized technology and manufacturing businesses. …

In its new role as the regional office in Northeast Ohio for the state's JobsOhio business development program, Team NEO has announced that six proposals to stimulate job growth and economic development in the region have received preliminary approval for financing from its board of trustees.

Pending final documentation and approval, grants totaling nearly $3 million will be issued by Team NEO.
The largest grant, for $2 million, would go to a joint regional retention and expansion program involving five groups — Greater Cleveland Partnership, Team Lorain County, Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber, Stark Development Board, and the Greater Akron Chamber.

The Wayne Economic Development Council would receive two grants. …

Team NEO itself would receive $475,000 for its business attraction strategy that targets companies in high-growth industry sectors.
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In his first State of the County speech, Executive Mark Hackel touted Macomb County’s growing population, manufacturing strength and regional ties while also laying out a vision of an economy buoyed by the possibilities of Lake St. Clair and the Clinton River.

“It’s time to tell the rest of the world about Macomb,” … announced that the director of the Michigan Economic Development Corp.’s Defense Center would be assigned to the county “to grow our vision of becoming the defense capital of the world.”

... New Blue Economy initiative that would make Lake St. Clair and the Clinton River key economic resources. As examples, he described several upcoming events, such as a visit by Tall Ships to commemorate the War of 1812 as well as major bass-fishing and hockey tournaments.

In addition, Hackel praised the cooperation he’s received from regional leaders, ...

“We are competing as a region for world resources,” ... explaining that regional cooperation is not just a buzzword.

The recent formalization of a new regional cooperation bloc that includes every country in the Americas except Canada and the United States has been largely dismissed in the English-language media as little more than a new soap-box from which-Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, will now spew anti-American rhetoric.
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Alexander Main, a Latin America specialist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, contends that the “two biggest factors in CELAC so far have been Brazil and Mexico taking the key initiatives in the process that led to its creation.”

Neither country represents the region’s far left. “So, the two countries that are the biggest in terms of their economic weight and their populations have been key promoters of CELAC,"

Indeed, backing from Brazil and Mexico, coupled with the participation of every one of the region’s other major players -- including Colombia and Chile, both also notably not pro-Chávez -- signals a level of unprecedented regional cohesion,

This guest post was written by Joyce Roy. As a retired architect, Joyce has raised her sights (or sites?) to the whole city of Oakland and so has been active in advocating for better transit, the right development in the right place and the reuse of existing structures. She is an active member of ULTRA.

This is for those of you who were disturbed by the recent decision of MTC (Metropolitan Transportation Commission) to leave the headquarters they share with ABAG (Association of Bay Area Governments) and use Bridge toll funds for real estate speculation by purchasing a too-big warehouse in a transit-challenged location. It was not just in itself an unwise, and possibly, illegal action, but a loud and clear symptom of the Bay Area’s transportation/land-use disconnect due to the difficulty of comprehensive planning without regional governance which would combine the functions of MTC, ABAG, the Air District and BCDC.

A major victory for Greater Lansing came late last month when officials learned the region won a special planning grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

A partnership of some 40 agencies and units of government worked together to win the $3 million Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant. Participants have pledged additional matching funds to bring the total to $10 million.

In the scheme of things, that's not a huge total. But the change it could leverage for the region is enormous.
Officials plan to focus the program on the 19-mile stretch that runs from Michigan Avenue in Lansing down Grand River Avenue, east to Webberville.

The sustainability effort focuses on strengthening environmental quality, economic opportunities and social equity. Of course, that means working on these goals during times of economic uncertainty and government cutbacks, which make the effort all the more necessary and the impact all the more important.
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Twin Cities communities are lagging far behind their goals for the production of affordable housing, according to a new report from the Metropolitan Council.

And with the nation in a prolonged economic slump, the prospects for significantly increasing the supply of affordable owner-occupied and rental housing remain bleak.

In 2010, just 1,541 new affordable housing units were added to the region's housing stock, according to the Council. While up slightly in each of the last two years, that’s down from the nearly 5,500 new housing units that were added in the peak year of 2001.

The 2010 production total included just 758 affordable owner-occupied units, the lowest output since the Council began collecting this data in 1996.

To appeal to customers next year, restaurant operators will use regional and imported menu options and double-sided menus, according to five trends for 2012 outlined by Mintel Menu Insights. ...

American regionalism – Consumers are becoming more aware of regional specialties such as Kansas City or Memphis barbecue or New England chowder.

Double-sided menus – The trend will illustrate that consumers want choices. Menus will continue to feature indulgent options, but they will be balanced with healthier, better-for-you options. Menus also will contain both premium and value-pricing items. “Operators understand it’s not either-or, it’s both,” Mintel said.

Consumer control – Consumers want the ability to control their dining experience. ...

Slow it down – Fast-food restaurants will turn to preparation methods that take more time. “Handmade” and “home-style’ will appear on restaurant menus.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo will announce the winners Thursday of $200 million in grants for the state’s regional economic councils in a ceremony at the Egg, headlined by CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo.
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Cuomo has turned events on the regional development councils into big productions. An “Open For Business” conference in September to tout the work of the 10 regional development councils was headlined by former President Bill Clinton and moderated by another CNBC personality, Ron Insana.

The 10 regional councils are vying for a piece of $200 million in state funding and tax incentives being offered by the state for innovative job-creation projects. The top four regions will get $40 million each; the other six will split the remaining $40 million.
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… state’s regional library systems were created with a great deal of fanfare through an act of the Texas Legislature.
The South Texas Library System and the other regional systems were set up in 1972 to support public libraries in every corner of the state. This past session … lawmakers signed the death warrant for those regional systems. The STLS and other regional libraries saw their funding eliminated as part of $15 billion in cuts in state funding in response to a massive budget shortfall.

The STLS, with its network of 55 public libraries, will close its doors Dec. 31. The system’s total state budget for fiscal year 2011 was $378,096. Included in that was $80,000 in Technical Assistance Negotiated Grant (TANG) money used to provide technical support for South Texas libraries. The nine other regional systems will stay open until August 2012. … most of the pain will be felt by local libraries large and small that have depended on the regional systems over four decades. …

The idea of putting industrial-scale wind turbines off the shores of a tourist-dependent beach community was not an issue in Egmond aan Zee, The Netherlands.

The Egmond aan Zee offshore wind farm has had 36 Danish-made industrial wind turbines operating since 2007.
The tourism program manager for the northern Netherlands shoreline region told a group of West Michigan officials Monday that the Egmond aan Zee offshore wind project has not affected visitors to the North Sea nor hurt local tourism businesses.
The 36-turbine offshore wind farm, which is six to nine miles offshore, is usually not visible from the small beach village of 5,000 inhabitants, according to Adriana Stam, who handles tourism issues for the Development Company North Holland — a regional economic development agency.

… Grand Valley State University West Michigan Wind Assessment research project. The Holland-to-Holland conversation was conducted through an Internet conference ... GVSU Meijer Campus in Holland, Mich.

Nov. 28 marked the beginning of presentations for the 10 Regional Economic Development Councils that are all competing for state funding for their projects. The four regions who most impress those in charge of the selection process will receive $40 million each to implement their proposals.

"I just wanted to come by and thank you for all the hard work," said Cuomo. "Bringing everyone to the same table and getting past the lines and the boundaries and the differences that all too often keep parties from coming to consensus has been done very well all across this state, so I want to applaud you and thank you for the great work," he said before thanking the judges and making it clear that he will not have any say in which regions obtain the top four spots that will get the highest funding.

Rabinowitz and Law were given just over an hour to pitch their wide-ranging strategy for the growth of Long Island, ...

Collaboration is the key to charitable success throughout the expansive region of San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

With more than 10,000 nonprofits alone struggling to capture or maintain donor dollars, competition is tough, but in order to do the most good for the most people, joining forces ultimately will lead to the most success, according to Daniel Foster, president and chief executive officer of The Community Foundation.

The Riverside-based group is a nonprofit public charity created by and for residents of both counties. Although the Foundation recently celebrated its 70th year of operations, its recent growth in staff and contributions is positioning it for a bright 2012 and beyond. And the ultimate beneficiary is the community and the people it serves.

Central Indiana communities are launching smartphone applications, decorating cards to welcome visitors and taking other steps to promote local attractions in hopes of capitalizing on thousands of Super Bowl fans descending on the region for the Feb. 5 game.

Tourism officials in Kokomo are working on an app that includes pictures of local attractions and information on restaurants and lodging. Indianapolis and Columbus already have similar apps, and the Kokomo Tribune reports Hamilton County is developing one.

The areas are all included in a list of 17 Super Celebration Sites chosen by the 2012 Indianapolis Super Bowl Host Committee.

The sites reach as far south as Columbus and as far north as Lafayette. ...

Fifteen months ago, OPTiMO Information Technology had no employees in this area.

Today, the Bloomsburg-based company has 48 employees at the Wilkes-Barre Innovation Center and area client locations, and seven at a newly opened office in Clarks Summit.

"We are making a big push to expand regionally," said Mike Miguelez, president and chief executive of OPTiMO, which provides specialized technology services, including data security, database design, digital forensics, software development and systems integration.

"It says a lot about what this region offers from an IT perspective," OPTiMO marketing manager John Kilker said.

"With that sector, there may be some recognition that the higher education infrastructure here is delivering employable graduates," said Teri Ooms, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development, a regional think tank. ...

The dreams about having educated lie upon one another; there is nothing to doubt against its necessity being part of every ones development economically, politically, intellectually, socially or technically.

The current situation in the country is to generate competent graduates that are well-equipped with research and practical techniques to speed up regional development.

A forum organized recently in Dar es Salaam by the University of Dar es Salaam in corroboration with the Norwegian government focusing on extending programs in universities to underscore African-Norwegian partnerships in academic capacity building at a crossroads; achieving experiences and the way ahead.

The forum addressed the effects of academic capacity building in institutions and society and the way forward for international partnerships that is moving from individual capacity building to institutional development.

I dearly love Tampa Mayor-but yet another two-year, million-dollar "blueprint" study for downtown development is just a distraction from the real, regional planning that needs to take place. Instead of trying to create the best-little-block-in-Tampa, why not work to create the best quality metropolitan statistical area Florida? Instead of every mayor and county commissioner fighting to win for themselves that white knight job-creating company to relocate here, why not together challenge Miami's prominence in the state?

Eighth-ranked MSA Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach has a combined population of 5.5 million people, compared to 19th-ranked Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater with over 2.7 million people. Yet the Miami MSA has many more times the financial clout of the Tampa MSA. However, if we further expand the view of ourselves as the West Central Florida MSA, we then have the population to rival the Miami MSA. We just lack the vision and political will to become a greater region....

As the mayor of Aurora, I am writing on behalf of the city council to express our deep concern about Denver's recent withdrawal from the state Regional Tourism Act application for Gaylord and the National Western Stock Show.
We are disappointed with this direction, as we have always seen the application as an opportunity to build on our record of regional collaboration and success.

We understand the stock show is a respected Denver institution with deep community roots. Since the beginning of the Regional Tourism Act application process, we anticipated that the stock show would remain in Denver and continue to support it remaining in Denver. The original site plan for the project had the stock show located on Denver land adjacent to Gaylord, allowing both entities to benefit from the synergy they will create. It has never been the intent of the Aurora City Council to relocate the stock show out of Denver.

… Both Aurora and Denver spend considerable effort to bring jobs to the region, …

The system is based on a geocode scheme set up for earth that focuses on established political boundaries as a basis for regional grouping of nations, states and localities. It is decimal system based to take advantage of the sort criteria for numbers in computers. It utilized the Sector Group and Region codes of the United Nations and ISO. Geographic information system technology does not solve the problem, but its tools can be used with the geocodes.

The geocode system effectively organizes Wikipedia entries as a library management and the geocodes can be used for data aggregation. This has been developed under a Creative Commons license and would benefit from a global network implementation where local users cooperatively related subnational geographic regions and component political geography.

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Earth ( we know its a spherical whole)

Humanity's Local Planet

Universe Man at the Boundary

Local Planet - Regional Space

Our Local Planet has systems of Political Geographies which combine as Regional/Greater Communities

Universe Man's place on earth is local and regional silmultaneously depending upon the system of regions, sub-regions of the planet as local wholes: continents, nations, states, provinces, districts, counties, shires, municipalities. etc., which have local regions within and between them which are capable of being greater communities at many scales.

Based on my experience as a regional planner and agency director, 1973 -2008, and in recognition of emerging "regional communities," I developed three thoughts about community that relate to the challenge of working across-boundaries as greater or regional communities. The thoughts/theses apply for communities at the scale of bonding or bridging social capital as defined by Robert D. Putnam, which is alternately local or regional. (link below)

As of 2011, considering the global financial crisis brought about by pursuit of the "profit motive," it struck me that this has come to dominate modern life. This is a relatively new invention of civilization and wasn't a concern for most of the time that homo sapiens has been on the planet.

The three thoughts below that had emerged in my experience of working on regional cooperation now represent what I now posit as the "community motive." Concern about "profit" can emerge within an established community over time, but, to my mind the "profit motive" does not exist in the wild.

1) Community precedes cooperation.2) Community is how life solves all problems.3) Security is the primary purpose of community.

These three thoughts, theses if you will, are the basis of the "community motive." Following is some exposition about each one.

As I see it, security has always been the priority for humans since the plains of Africa. That's why communities first seek to establish defensible boundaries. After the basics are in place, security focus shifts to the social and economic. Boundaries work like the membrane in the osmosis experiment most of us have seen in a science class. The membrane is a filter that lets the good things pass through, but keeps unwanted things out. (Osmosis -YouTube - 45 sec.)

The evolved political boundaries of today have consequence. The rules change when you cross them. Though marked on the ground and fortified in some instances, they are conceptual, as pictured above, with Universe Man. The boundary divides the space between local, that within, and regional, everything outside, as labeled in the second panel. The third panel repeats the image within, to show, without graphic elegance, that the land on which Universe Man sits is regional at another scale, as determined by other boundaries, and another area that's local. A territory is both local and regional, depending upon the perspective.

Communities of communities, “regional communities” are greater communities organized to solve a problem, be it managing a watershed, strengthening an economic cluster or ensuring peer competition for school sports. Regional boundaries can be imposed for administrative purposes within states, but for these to be a basis for effective cooperation, a greater community sense is needed for that geography among the people. This is true for multi-state and multi-national regional communities as well. The leaders with such a vision can build a regional community by finding that which is already in place.

This is not to suggest that community is easy to build in order to solve problems. In a crisis, humans of any culture, belief or politics can quickly come together and self-organize to save themselves and others. It was the on-the- ground response to the 9/11 attacks that demonstrated to me the deep responsiveness of human community, as well as the fundamental importance of security. Community is how humans have always survived. This, I think, extends to all life forms.